'Sunday's Child' Lives At Annie's House

A description of, and excerpts from the memoir 'Sunday's Child'. This is the inspiring, true tale of a little girl struggling to rise above appalling living conditions, poverty, violence and abuse. You'll also find other, more general stuff about books, writing, magazines, blogging and the news.

Blurb

In a crisis torn, South American country, only little Ann's faith, her determination, and one young woman could help keep her dreams of escape alive.

In
a crisis torn, South American country, only little Ann's faith, her
determination, and one young woman could help keep her dreams of escape alive.

A true story.

Set in Guyana, a former British Colony, told through the eyes of
a child sometimes called, Ann. She tells of the harrowing life she’s forced to
live with her abusive grandmother, while giving a glimpse into the political
and cultural climate of the economically stricken country at the time.

Ann didn’t care that she lived in poverty - after all, the best
hours of her young life were those spent in the food lines - because anything, anything was better than the horrendous
abuse she suffered at home.

Daily blackouts, political brainwash, murders raging through her
unstable country, and her hunger pains were no match for the darkness that
lived within her soul - a soul sketched as a dot-to-dot picture of constant
fear. Each day, each dot got her closer to the completion of an existence
steadily spiralling downward to certain annihilation of everything she hoped
her life could be.

Sunday’s Child is not only about pain, but about laughter, mental breakdowns,
evictions, loyalty, and above all, love; for it is love that ultimately
triumphs in the wretched arena of torture, corruption and abandonment.

All of the
events that I’ve recorded in this book have happened to me in real life, each
and every one of them and more. I have
changed most of the names of the people in this memoir – but not Theresa’s – because
I did not wish to cause them any embarrassment.
Apart from these names, nothing else has been changed; although, a few
of the events may not have appeared chronologically.

I have recorded
these episodes of my life to show that regardless of your past, with God’s
help, and a few good people, you are potentially able to rise above it and can
consciously decide not to allow it to affect who you are at present.

It’s an
agonizing affair, but I believe that if people who’ve been abused in their
childhood allow their entire lives to be ruined by it, they have in effect,
surrendered to their abuser, their right of self. Abusers are aware of the
devastating powers of their actions, so if the victim continues to live his/her
life in the shadow of that abuse even after it has ceased, he/she is enabling
the abuser to succeed in destroying their life, thus achieving their goal.

I wrote this
book in the progressive developmental language of a growing child to provide an
opportunity for the reader to visualise the intimate thoughts of an imprisoned
child of that age. This I hope, would
offer a tool, which could help to identify a child who is being abused.

In addition, I
wanted to express my experiences in the way I saw them as a child, because I
was not willing to add my adult opinions to this story. Firstly, because it
allowed the person I am now, to take a step back and write the story
objectively. Also, it meant that I did not have to painstakingly analyse a lot
of the behaviours demonstrated in Sunday’s Child; patterns which, although I
could not understand them then, are clear to me now because of my training,
Child Psychology qualifications, and work experiences. For legal purposes, I
want to mention also, that some of my then juvenile political assessments of
the government were not necessarily factual. They are merely what I believed to be the truth, based mainly
on the opinions of the adults I overheard, and also on the effects their
policies had on my young life.

Sunday's Child excerpts

Below is a bundle of Sunday’s Child excerpts. Please note
all these were posted before the book was published. Therefore, with
pre-publishing editing, many of these excerpts in the released version of
Sunday’s Child may be slightly different - not in content, obviously, but in
style. You’ll find a synopsis and some other particulars about my book at my
confidence blog here: Sunday’s Child. The book is now available to buy from the
link on the right.

I've been thinking of something I could post here that would be both useful and informative for the start of this year. While I'm not a fan of astrological limitations of what a person should be, based on when he/she happened to be born, I quite like the idea of jewellery (who doesn't, right). Flowers don't hurt either.

I've made a list of birth stones and flowers which make traditional gifts for friends and family (especially women) related to the month in which they were born. Make a note of these for when you're shopping for presents for the rest of the year.

In order to wrap up 2010's posting on this blog (I still have a few posts left in me for my other sites) before I leave for my Christmas hols with relatives, I want to bring you some 'awwww' inducing pictures of little Christmas doggies. They're all dressed in the most fabulous, seasonal garb and definitely put me in the Christmas spirit. I've trawled through dozens to bring you some of the best ones. All say, 'Awwww....'

I've always wanted to create a full post in progressive pictures. I think I've managed to do just that today. This is how I transformed my son's bed from plain and dull, to one that's fun and colourful. With just an old, dusty headboard and some well-chosen material, you to can make a stunning piece of furniture out of your old, boring bed.Note: use an old, soft blanket under your top layer of material to create a softer, more cushiony feel and look.